Lawler vows to keep it simple

So even if you think you’re winning, you’ve got to still fight.

Lawler defended his belt with a split-decision victory in the main event of UFC 195.

“I would say not much has changed other than maybe people want my autograph and maybe want to take pictures with me a little bit more than they did before”.

Condit threw 198 total strikes to Lawler’s 78 but the latter was more efficient, landing 44% of his strikes (78 of 177) to the former’s 39% (198/504). My corner said go out there and press him. “We battled it out”, he added.

There was no doubt who won the fourth round though, as Condit opened up on Lawler shortly before the bell, meaning the champion would need to take the final round to retain his belt. He persevered through several years of professional turbulence and brutal bouts to win the welterweight title in December 2014, and he had to survive a horrifying fight with Rory MacDonald to keep it in July.

“Tonight was kind of a do or die moment for my career I feel like”, Condit said. You can’t make these types of fights right after the (first) fight.

Miocic will now face whoever emerges triumphant from UFC 196 in February when current champion Fabricio Werdum has his rematch with Cain Velasquez.

The Natural Born Killer was at his unpredictable best as he pulled out a string of innovative combos to land a majority of the strikes, yet, a final flurry from Ruthless – that nearly floored Condit – tipped the judges’ decision in favor of Lawler.

“Yeah, it was what I thought it was”, he said. I’m in this game because I love it. I love fighting. “I’m just going to try to get better and improve”. Lawler won about twenty seconds of the entire second frame, but it was enough to gain him the round.

“I’m proud of the way I fought”.

Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit celebrate after their welterweight title fight on January 2. After all, decisions like these, as well as the negative reactions to them, are far from a rarity in any combat sport, and thus there is always the crutch of that old cliche – “there is no such thing as a ideal system”.

Meanwhile, the co-main event card between heavyweights Stipe Miocic and Andrei Arlovski was the complete opposite of how Condit vs Lawler went. I needed to push forward in the fifth and that’s what I did.

Now Lawler will defend his title for the second time, this time against Carlos Condit and his impressive 30-8 record.

Miocic immediatly raced over to the cage and screamed in the direction of White and UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta that he had done enough to secure his spot as the top contender.